


Strawberry Seeds

by traptrixnepenthes



Category: Future Card Buddyfight
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2019-03-16 14:02:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13637739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traptrixnepenthes/pseuds/traptrixnepenthes
Summary: i don't know what to put in the summary here this fic was based off of a premise i woke up with in my head this morningit's another character analysis fic, and also there's a bowl of fruit





	Strawberry Seeds

It had been only about a day since Tasuku had agreed to join Disaster, and in that span of time, Kyoya had personally gotten him settled in his new quarters. Throughout the entire process, Tasuku hadn't said a word, barely even brought himself to look at Kyoya when spoken to. It made sense, since he was surely still at war with himself over having decided Kyoya was a villain only to find himself joining hands with that very same criminal.  
  
Kyoya had simply left for the night, leaving the Core and new deck on Tasuku's desk.  
  
The next morning Tasuku didn't show up. For anything. The potential meetings to introduce the new member? Skipped. From what Kyoya could tell, Tasuku hadn't left his room at all over the course of the day, and now that it was late, Kyoya was getting worried. He'd put a lot of effort into setting the stage for Tasuku to join him, and if that had all come to nothing...  
  
Well, he would just have to make sure that didn't happen.  
  
If Tasuku hadn't left his room all day, then he hadn't eaten, either. That was definitely no good, not for what Kyoya had in mind for him--he needed to be at peak stamina. The extent of Kyoya's knowledge of meal preparation ended after simply arranging some fruit in a bowl and picking at it over the course of a day because he had no time for anything else, and that would have to suffice for Tasuku as well. With any luck it'd inspire him to eat something more.  
  
So it was with a bowl of fruit in hand--strawberries, blueberries, banana slices Kyoya had cut himself--that he knocked on Tasuku's door. There was some sort of sound from within, which was promising, and Kyoya let himself in.  
  
The Core on the desk was in exactly the same location Kyoya had left it, but the deck was spread across the floor in front of Tasuku, apparently ordered by monster, item, and spells, and the monsters then ordered by size and stats. It was all very professionally done, as should be expected of someone like Tasuku.  
  
So Kyoya simply closed the door behind him and asked, "What are you doing?"  
  
"Rebuilding." Tasuku hadn't even bothered to glance up at him.  
  
"Our deckbuilder worked very hard on that deck, you know."  
  
"Don't care."  
  
So that was how things were going to be, were they. Kyoya just smiled, not that Tasuku was looking at him. "I brought you some food."  
  
That caught Tasuku's attention for all of a moment, and he glanced up at Kyoya before focusing on the cards in front of him again, taking out two monsters and setting them aside. "I don't want it."  
  
"You haven't eaten all day, you know."  
  
"I've been busy."  
  
Kyoya sighed and sat down next to him, watching him decide on ratios and numbers and combos, all without having even tried the deck yet. Maybe he really was a prodigy. "With an attitude like that, I'm amazed there was never news of you collapsing from overwork and malnutrition." He lifted the fork he'd brought with him and stabbed it into a strawberry, then held it up. "Now, Tasuku, say ahh."  
  
Tasuku jerked his head towards Kyoya, staring at him as if he was out of his mind. Which, to be fair, was exactly the kind of reaction Kyoya had been expecting.  
  
"Don't look at me like that," he chided gently. "Eating is important. Sugar helps the brain work better. I'd hate to see you weak and tired if it's something I can help with."  
  
"I don't--" But opening his mouth was his mistake. Kyoya pressed the strawberry into his mouth, pulling out the fork when Tasuku's lips closed in surprise. Amazing how those normally gentle red eyes could hold loathing so well.  
  
"You wouldn't be so rude as to reject assistance from your new benefactor, would you?"  
  
It wasn't a threat, not exactly. If Tasuku had just spit the strawberry onto the floor, Kyoya wouldn't have done anything in response. And surely an officer like Tasuku had faced worse from the hardened criminals he faced than being offered food from someone who had given him a new home.  
  
He just wanted to see how Tasuku would respond.  
  
The moments stretched in silence, Tasuku clearly trying to calculate what Kyoya's words meant. He probably wouldn't be able to figure out that they meant absolutely nothing, and that was what made it so interesting. And when Tasuku looked away and ate the strawberry without trying to argue, Kyoya couldn't help but smile.

He set the bowl of fruit down by Tasuku, and turned his attention to the deck Tasuku had been working on. It was the Purgatory Knight deck that had been specifically built for him, based on all his fight data that existed, and yet it apparently still wasn’t good enough for him. Or maybe he just always needed to have a hand in whatever deck he used. There were only minor changes thus far, a few spells removed, a few monsters set aside, extra space opened for additional items.

“What changes have you made?”

There was a moment of hesitation, and then Tasuku gently placed his hand on one of the cards--Purgatory Knights Leader, Demios Sword Dragon. “It wasn’t...aggressive enough. To match this card. But you only gave me the deck, so I can’t really add anything to it yet.”

“Not aggressive enough, huh? I thought the playstyle was plenty aggressive as it was.”

Tasuku didn’t respond, still staring at Demios’s card. “The Purgatory Knights fight together, even if Demios cuts them down. That’s what makes them stronger. But as Jack got stronger, we started to ignore the other cards I could use, instead focusing only on him. I could make a deck using only his many forms with no other monsters, and it would work just fine. But Demios can’t fight alone.”

He picked up the card, staring at the dragon it pictured. His voice was full of emotion, but his face was completely blank.

“Did I make the wrong decision, using that card?”

“Which one do you mean?”

Tasuku was silent, and for half a second Kyoya almost thought he might try to crush the card in his fist. But he didn’t, still just holding it gently. “Gold Ritter.”

Of course, Kyoya had already known which card Tasuku had meant. The card that Kyoya had added to Tasuku’s deck for him, the one that Tasuku had never used before, the one that surely he’d known Kyoya had given to him before he used it. Its function was simple--transform Jackknife Dragon, who was perhaps the pinnacle of toolboxing decks, into nothing more than a tool for the fighter to use. The reason the two of them had never used that card before was precisely because that was what it did--however powerful it might have been, that power would have been at the price of Jack’s free will.

Kyoya putting the card into Tasuku’s deck had been an experiment, much like the not-threat from earlier. It wasn’t that he particularly wanted him to use the card. He’d just been curious to see what he would do when the option of it was presented to him.

At the time, Tasuku hadn’t trusted Kyoya even slightly. But when put into a situation where his only options were to abandon the power Kyoya had offered him and lose alongside his Buddy or use the power given to him by someone he hated and abandon Jack in the name of victory, he chose to win rather than lose.

Perhaps the solitary fighting style of the Jackknife deck did suit him much better than the Purgatory Knights.

“You know I’m the person who gave you that card.”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re asking me anyways?”

“I’m asking you _because_ you were the one who gave me that card. I’m not so stupid that I didn’t realize it was a test.”

Kyoya smiled. “Well, you’re right. It was, but there was no right answer to it. There was only whatever answer you wanted to give me to it. It was always possible you wouldn’t have drawn into it, or your opponents’ luck had failed them and you won without having to worry about that card at all.” Tasuku listened silently, his gaze not breaking from the card he held. “But the choice that ended up being handed to you was to win or to lose, and it hinged on that card.”

“...and I chose to win.”

“Why?”

It was a simple, one word question, but Tasuku looked as if Kyoya had just slapped him. He looked up at him, eyes full of...hurt. That made Kyoya all the more curious to hear the answer to his question. And there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that Tasuku, in all the turmoil he was weathering, would answer him.

“It was...for the greater good.” Tasuku took a deep breath, but when he started speaking again, his voice still trembled. “You and the other members of Disaster were the villains. Criminals. I needed to catch you all, because the Buddy Police wouldn’t do it. I had to win because...no one else _could_ win. I had to. I was the only one who could."

Kyoya nodded. “And was that the right choice?”

“Well, it didn’t exactly go as planned, since you’re sitting right here with me.” Tasuku tried to laugh, but it didn’t come out very well. “But...I think it must have been. If I’d lost, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything afterwards. But like this I can still act for the greater good.”

“Then you did make the right choice.” Kyoya reached over and gently plucked Demios’s card from Tasuku’s fingers. “Do you know what the story of the Purgatory Knights is?”

Tasuku shook his head, silent again.

“A long, long time ago, the forces of Darkness Dragon World attempted to invade Dragon World. At the time, the Purgatory Knights were native to Dragon World, and were a prideful group who had tasked themselves with protecting Dragon World from any and all invaders. At the time, of course, they weren’t known as the Purgatory Knights just yet.

“But when Darkness Dragon World attempted to attack, the Purgatory Knights fought them back through the gate they had used to invade. It was a simple enough affair, or would have been, if Darkness Dragon World hadn’t kept trying to attack. Eventually, the Purgatory Knights became so desperate that they were willing to use a dark and forbidden ritual, likely acquired from an exchange with Magic World, to ensure their bodies would be perfect and undying. And then, rather than waiting to be attacked again, they attacked Darkness Dragon World, closing the gate between worlds behind them. They threw away the lives they’d had before, all to defend the world they loved so dearly. Don’t you recognize that kind of conviction they had in yourself?”

Tasuku looked down. He didn’t respond, or perhaps he just couldn’t. Agreeing or denying were both routes that couldn’t be taken.

“The Purgatory Knights are a deck that requires comrades. It’s not a deck that lets you fight on your own. I know you told me you wanted to when I recruited you, but…” Kyoya took a deep breath. He knew exactly what to say. Tasuku might have been wavering, but soon, he’d never be loyal to anyone but Kyoya ever again. “You don’t have to fight on your own anymore. You don’t have to be alone anymore. After all, I’m here with you, wanting the same things you do.”

The look on Tasuku’s face when he said that was so vulnerable. So _weak_. It had taken barely any effort to gently push past the walls he had up, and now he was seeing a side of Tasuku that probably no one else had. It was so _easy_.

Kyoya put the card back down with the others copies of it, and then offered his hand to Tasuku. “Will you let me help you?”

Tasuku stared at his upturned palm, not sure what to do. He’d abandoned Jack and everyone else he’d known to do this, declaring he would fight alone, but this one day of solitude had clearly weighed more heavily on him than he expected. All of this, everything, was perfectly set up so that Tasuku couldn’t say anything but yes.

This was just another test. Tasuku could say yes, or he could say no. There would be no change in Kyoya’s plans regardless of what he did. But so far, every single result Tasuku had offered, from the card slipped into his deck to the strawberry pressed between his lips, had been a favorable one. Kyoya was confident he’d get what he wanted.

Which is why when Tasuku so hesitantly placed his hand on Kyoya’s, he just couldn’t help but smile at the sight.

Kyoya squeezed his hand gently. “I won’t let you down.”

Tasuku didn’t meet his gaze. “Thank you.”

“Unfortunately, I have to leave now. I did only mean to bring you some food,” Kyoya said, gesturing at the bowl of fruit that had since been forgotten, “and this ended up taking more time than I expected. I have to get back to work.”

Tasuku didn’t pull his hand away from Kyoya’s grip. He just nodded, a question in his eyes that he apparently couldn’t bring himself to voice.

“I’ll give you my number,” Kyoya murmured, answering the unspoken question. A soft voice for the most delicate part of Tasuku’s insecurities. “If you’d like to talk again.”

He nodded again, and Kyoya stood up, stepping past the cards on the floor and scribbling his phone number on a piece of paper on the desk. And then he moved back to the door, watching Tasuku out of the corner of his eye. He couldn’t tell if he was looking at the deck again, or just staring into space.

But as Kyoya opened the door to leave, he saw Tasuku pick up a blueberry from the bowl of fruit between his fingers and bite into it, the fork Kyoya had touched getting ignored completely.


End file.
